On September 29, LMU hosted Prof. Dr. Yann LeCun. The Time Magazine has recently selected him as one of the 100 Most Influential People in AI. In his talk "From Machine Learning to Autonomous Intelligence" he presented an idea on a possible path towards autonomous intelligent agents, based on a new modular cognitive architecture and a somewhat new self-supervised training paradigm. The event was part of the Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) research focus Next Generation AI and related to the Munich AI Lectures. Furthermore the event was supported and funded by baiosphere – the Bavarian AI Network, BAdW – Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, bidt – Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation, MCML – Munich Center for Machine Learning, Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Reliable AI (relAI).

Online propaganda has become an important tool of modern warfare. When Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the move was accompanied by an information war in the digital space. In a large-scale empirical study, a team led by Prof. Dr. Stefan Feuerriegel, Head of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Management at LMU, investigated the dissemination of pro-Russian propaganda on the platform X (formerly Twitter). The results show that bots play a significant role in the dissemination and proliferation of propaganda posts and that specific countries are targeted.

Harnessing the power of data for social good, two international student teams, under the umbrella of the Data Science for Social Good (DSSG) Fellowship Program, are on a mission to address real-world problems. One team is collaborating with the Bavarian fire service to develop an app, providing firefighters with an enhanced overview of available hydrants. Hosted by LMU for the first time, and backed by its Department of Statistics and Munich Center for Machine Learning, DSSGx Munich exemplifies the convergence of data science expertise and pressing societal needs.

A new profile published by LMU spotlights Prof. Dr. Christoph Kern’s pivotal research on the fairness of automated decision-making (ADM) processes in sectors like justice and unemployment assistance. Kern critically explores the risk of ADM inadvertently disadvantaging certain groups, spotlighting a concerning gap between theoretical potential and actual application. Through this lens, issues of prediction errors and unintentional biases are brought to the forefront.

The Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) will organize an AI double-feature workshop in October (09. and 10.10.2023) that discusses the latest developments in the field of neuro-symbolic AI as well as the impact of AI on sustainable development.

The 3rd edition of AutoML Fall School is scheduled for Nov 27-30 in Munich, marking a collaborative effort between the universities of Munich, Freiburg, and Hannover, organized locally by Prof. Dr. Bernd Bischl, Prof. Dr. Matthias Feurer, and Dr. Marcel Wever, and sponsored by the MCML. With a speaker lineup including Margret Keuper, Haitham Bou-Ammar, and José Miguel Hernández-Lobato, the event promises insightful hands-on sessions focusing on AutoGluon, SMAC3 Bayesian optimization, Meta-Learning, and OpenML. It serves as a valuable platform for advanced Master’s students, early Ph.D. students, and ML practitioners to deepen their understanding of AutoML. 

Join us for the MCML Meets Humanities 2023 Workshop on October 16-17 at Hochschule für Philosophie München. This event brings together students and young researchers from mathematics, computer science, the humanities, and cultural history. The workshop aims to foster learning and discussion around state-of-the-art tools and research in the digital humanities. Intensive workshops, designed for PhD students and postdocs, will further provide hands-on experience with methodologies for text-based research.